Mechanical Simulation Releases CarSim 9.0

Mechanical Simulation Corporation is proud to announce the release of CarSim 9.0 vehicle dynamics software. According to Dr. Michael Sayers, CEO and Chief Technology Officer, “CarSim 9 is the most significant upgrade to the product since its 1996 introduction by Mechanical Simulation. It features major enhancements to the math models, the visualization tools, the database and the overall architecture.”

In Version 9, CarSim makes it even easier to simulate tests used by automotive manufacturers and suppliers to evaluate performance of vehicles that don’t yet exist, or to cover conditions that are difficult or too dangerous to handle with physical testing. Suppliers use CarSim as a vehicle platform for testing advanced controllers developed with other software, such as Simulink from The Math Works.

Some of the changes in CarSim 9 are evolutionary, such as extending the tire model to handle asymmetric data, or increasing the number of add-on features such as sensors, payloads, etc. The number of roads and target paths was increased dramatically in support of customers developing ADAS and autonomous driving technologies. According to Sayers, “To support all the new features and extensions, the internal design of the math models had to be reworked. We expect the new architecture to facilitate creation of many more extensions over the next few years.”

Other parts of the software package were modified extensively, or replaced completely. The plotting tool used since the earliest versions of the software has been replaced with VS Visualizer, the tool used to generate videos for simulated cameras. Plots and videos are now synchronized. Sayers adds, “When you use the plot command to find the maximum value of a variable, all plots synchronize to that time, as do all video screens. Having multiple camera views and multiple plots all synchronized really speeds up the process of understanding complicated 3D behavior of the vehicle.”

Other significant changes include the redesign of the database to provide compatibility with modern PLM/software management systems and improve transfer of data between groups. CarSim 9 also includes a second-generation interface that simplifies the integration of CarSim vehicle models with existing Simulink controller models.